I'll Be There For You
by x. I Got You First .x
Summary: A collection of individual drabbles written mainly for the "F.r.i.e.n.d.s" Challenge on the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges forum. Themes generally centre around friendship, family, hurt/comfort, and sometimes certain pairings.
1. Something to Smile About

**Fandom** : Harry Potter  
 **Characters** : George & Ginny Weasley  
 **Summary** : Three years after the Battle of Hogwarts, George is grateful to have a sister there to make him smile.  
 **Prompts** : (word) smile; (word) sad

* * *

 **Something to Smile About**

From the burrow – a place where he never felt lonely – George stepped out. There was a definite shift, moving from the cosy candlelight to the harsh sunlight of the afternoon. The empty sky, devoid of clouds, made the cerulean blue hard to look at. It certainly didn't help that lost feeling that seemed to intensify everytime he woke up on this day. _This_ day. Just thinking back to three years ago – on _this day_ – seemed to tighten the knot in his stomach. He had what anyone could want: he had the girl, he had the joke shop, he had family, and the days seemed to be bright as ever. And yet, still, he felt empty. Like the sky.

The grass rustled beside him and then came a definitive ' _thud_ ' as someone sat down. They didn't try to talk or offer any words; they just sat with him in silence. A blade of grass stretched between George's fingers. He fiddled with it absently, his eyes not registering the thin strip of green. He felt no urge to speak. For once, the silence felt comfortable. Solidary.

"I hate this day," Ginny finally spoke, earning a brief turn of a head from her brother. She was sitting cross-legged with her head tilted down to the ground, some of her hair pushed half-heartedly behind one ear. Although her expression betrayed nothing but a blank mask, her eyes held a sort of intensity to them.

"We all do."

That caught her attention. Instead of facing the ground, like George was doing presently, Ginny snapped her gaze upwards and over to the side.

"I hate everything about it," continued George. His fingers resumed their fidgeting with the grass, helping him expell the emotions he had churning around inside one little bit at a time. He must have twisted it too hard, or tugged at it beyond its tolerance, because it snapped in two. He then dropped it with a short sigh.

After some hesitation, Ginny piped up again; "Everything? That's a lot."

George fell silent. Only a humourless grimace flitted across his features at the attempt to lighten some of the atmosphere, but it lasted only temporarily. He answered with a short, indifferent hum in the back of his throat.

"You know. One thing you _shouldn't_ do, though." With that statement placed right out there in the air in front of them, Ginny lifted her hands from her lap, swung them behind her, and leaned back. George, once again, turned to watch in anticipation of her next words, albeit only halfheartedly. "Don't push things away."

"Yeah?"

"Stop doing that," Ginny continued along with a nod. "'Course you're not alone." She had a feeble smile, which disappeared as soon as her next words came spilling out. "I miss him, too."

To that, George couldn't respond with anything she didn't already know; that he missed Fred, more than anything. That he couldn't go a day with the thought entering his mind. Life had crept by slowly, as if the weight of just that thought was pulling him down. For Angelina, it had been enough to cause a little frustration, driving their relationship right up to the edge where any second it could teeter off and plummet. He was holding onto his grief, and he could not loosen the grip he had.

"Would.. Fred want this?" The way she said it was as if all the air was being pushed out of her lungs; suddenly, all this pressure built up, and the only way to rid herself of it was to succomb, letting the dam crumble and the gallons and gallons of water burst forth.

The answer was: "no." Fred was always _living_. He was the one to push further, as crazy as the pair of them were already. He had this energy... and the loss of that energy was something that dragged him down, forcing him to trudge throught the mud each day.

Without a cue, Ginny leaned in and wrapped her arms around her brother. Every other thought that remained unspoken between them was conveyed through the tight embrace of their arms. Sometimes a reminder was necessary to make others realise that the love they sought, the love they lost and needed now more than ever, was still there, if only one remembered to take up the search. And the searching, it wasn't hard...

"And, Gin.." he started, pulling out of the hug eventually to speak. Many things swarmed to the tip of his tongue in an attempt to be heard, but – for some reason – he spoke regarding none of them. Not on his need to apologise for being so focused on his own grief when she, too, had lost a brother three years prior. A part of him needed to ask 'how' – as in, how was he supposed to let this go. Somewhere, he wanted to return to the past where the days seemed more certain, where his future wasn't necessarily _bright_ but held everything he could ever want. Instead, all that came out was a shadow of the smirk he used to wear and a "Thank you."

The two of them shared a smile before Ginny stood and trekked towards the entrance of the burrow. "Whenever you feel ready, your holey-ness," she said in jest.

George smirked, appreciating the attempt to lighten the mood. "All of ear-related humour, and you go for 'holey-ness'?"

Once she was gone, however, his gaze swept out to the horizon again. The direct sunlight was bright for the beginning of May and the sky was empty of clouds, making the blue nearly unwelcome to set his eyes on, but there was something behind the bare sky and harsh light that held a more positive quality.

Soon, George was situated in the comfort of the burrow once again. In the dim yet cosy light, he wrapped an arm around Angelina's waist and looked her properly in the eye – for the first time in quite a while, one could argue. And her response to it was worth the risk of moving on.

"You're alright?" she asked quietly.

George caught Ginny's eye somewhere in the background in the second it took to think of a reply, and when he eventually answered, the answer was easy.

"I think I will be."

He had a reason to smile.

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Written in response to: (on the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges and the Golden Snitch forums)  
1\. **The FRIENDS** **Challenge** – _TOW Ross' Teeth_ : Write anything using the prompt 'smile'.  
2\. **Build the Burrow** – _Blue Paint_ : Write about someone who is sad.

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Word count: 1061 words.


	2. Mistletoe

**Fandom** : Harry Potter  
 **Characters** : Scorpius Malfoy & Lily Luna Potter  
 **Summary** : Lily had a crush on a certain Malfoy, but he has eyes for only Rose Weasley. Complications ensue after an awkward meeting under some mistletoe.  
 **Prompts** : (situation) a complicated relationship

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 **Mistletoe**

It wasn't until the pair of them nearly collided in the doorway that Lily fully realised her mistake: she should not have invited that Malfoy boy over for Christmas. Her mind raced, and she could feel her cheeks heating up. Completely paused on the spot, Scorpius was the first of them to turn his eyes to the glistening plant above their heads. Lily followed his lead and, as she predicted, there it was. Her eyes grew wide as her mind processed what it meant.

"Suppose we have to," Scorpius said, awkwardly pointing above their heads briefly before it turned into a hand rubbing the back of his neck.

"Have to?" squeaked the youngest Potter. She so wished he hadn't said those words. It sounded more like an obligation than anything else, making her feel foolish for ever thinking there was something to fantasise about when the History of Magic classed became too boring.

"I mean, if you don't want to– I only thought, because it's tradition…" He trailed off, like he didn't know what he was talking about. At that moment, Lily chose to stand up on her tiptoes and press a light kiss on his cheek. Recklessly brave, they called Gryffindors, but that was hardly a move compared to the Slytherin's next. Scorpius leaned in, a little late, and caught Lily on the lips.

The surprise of the second kiss lasted only a moment for Lily. Hope fluttered in her stomach, defying the little glimmer of fear that persisted still somewhere within. She felt her heart quicken as those innocent daydreams of hers got closer and closer to reality. It was a race to the finish – which will cross first? – but a race where she still won, no matter what. She felt his warmth so near… and then

..it was gone. As quickly as it came.

Lily stood a foot from Scorpius now, once again a friend. Instead of warmth passing between them, it was tension. The Malfoy stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans, for sure trying to come up with something to say. All that the Potter could do, however, was offer a sheepish grin – one that seemed more like a grimace, anyway.

"Well, I'll, uh– I'll see you around?" said Scorpius, trying to offer his own smile, too.

Lily attempted a reply, but all that came out was, "Oh, uh, yeah." _Fantastic going, there,_ she thought sardonically.

And when he moved around her to walk away, she just remained standing there, as if waiting upon his return. She spun around on the spot to catch sight of him going, and their eyes met briefly. Who knew – in the race where it seemed only possible to win, Lily Luna had lost.

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Written in response to:  
1\. **The FRIENDS** **Challenge** – _TOW Phoebe Runs_ : Write about a complicated relationship.

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Word count: 460 words.


	3. Daughters

**Fandom** : Harry Potter  
 **Characters** : Molly II & Percy Weasley  
 **Summary** : On the third of May, Molly Weasley II finds her father outside under a navy blue sheet of stars. She has something she needs to ask him, and the truth finally comes out.  
 **Prompts** : Write about a father/daughter relationship; write about a Slytherin; (colour) blue; (length) 358 words

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 **Heavier Things  
** _001\. Daughters_

Molly was never awake after her bedtime of eight, but something Victoire said kept her tossing and turning in her bed. It was just a passing remark meant for no one to dwell on its meaning, but Molly did, of course.

It didn't make sense, not to her innocent, ten-year-old self, and eventually she couldn't take it and got up from the bed, swung a blanket over her shoulders, and made for the door. It didn't take long before she was at the bottom of the stairs, head swiveling as she searched for her father, knowingly her dad always knew the answer!

Molly spotted him standing outside, just barely in the light. His head was tilted up and hands sunk deep in his trousers' front pockets.

Excited to have found him, she yanked open the door and stumbled outside into the brisk air. She moved forward, wrapping her blanket tighter around her small frame.

"Dad?" she piped up, now standing beside the man. His concentration on the dark blue sky snapped and he looked down at his daughter, a slight smile visible.

With a raised brow, he noted after a beat, "You should be asleep by now."

"I couldn't. I have a question."

Percy turned but was quiet except for the slight "Alright" he gave.

"Vicky said something today," the little witch replied, "about how today's not a good day. Why's it not a good day?"

The answer wasn't immediate. Instead, it inclined its head to the sky, took a breath, and sunk into a crouch. Its smile was infinitesimal and weathered, eroded, like he was remembering something bittersweet.

"For Victoire, it is a good day," he started, "but there was a battle fought years ago today. People we knew, they fought in the battle and… for some, that was– they died."

Blinking, Molly quietly repeated, "They died?"

Molly was stunned into quiet, a sign Percy took to straightened and declare it finally time to bed. He wasn't angry with her question or the fact that she had stayed up easily past twelve to ask it; he was defeated. It made Molly wondered what happened during the battle that made him so subdued.

A question for another night.

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Written in response to:  
1\. **The Friends Challenge**. _TOW Ross Meets Elizabeth's Dad_ – Write about a father/daughter relationship.  
2\. **The Album Drabble Challenge**. _Heavier Things, by John Mayer_. Song: Daughters. Word count target: 348-368 words.  
2\. **Ultimate Random Prompt Challenge**. Given the prompt 'blue'.  
3\. **Slytherin Challenge**. Write about any Slytherin.

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Word count: 368


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